payments. in 2006, when speaking in opposition to increasing the debt limit, the senator obama said the fact that we are here today to debate raising america's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. those comments hold true today. that is why it is disappointing that the president is declining to engage in a meaningful dialogue to identify a responsible, balanced approach to reduce spending. and, reducing the deficit, which the president promised to cut in half during his first term. of course, it is tough to cut the deficit when the senate, controlled by the president's own party, will not or cannot even produce a budget. it has been four years since the democrat-controlled senate has passed a budget. that is a disgrace. i fully expect republicans and democrats will disagree about what the budget should look like, even when one party has a majority in both the senate and house, the two parties often disagree. the failure to resolve the differences is the problem. how can we even start to find common ground if senate democrats will not tell us where they stand? in the first pla
